PHL 131 Lecture Notes - Lecture 16: Demarcation Problem, Falsifiability
8 Jun 2020
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Document Summary
Demarcation problem: apparent cases of non-science and apparent cases of science can overlap in surprising ways. A concept typically defined in turn as the rejection of appeal to supernatural entities. The view that whether or not there are such entities, science cannot implicate them in it"s theories. Metaphysical naturalism: the view that there are no supernatural entities. Verifiability: that a statement is meaningful, proves the truth by evidence. Falsifiability: the requirement that there be specifiable observations or experimental outcomes under which a theory or explanation would be judge false. Auxiliary hypothesis: the idea that assumptions and theories external to the theory being tested, help it connect to empirical observations. Good science need not consist in dropping an established or previously useful idea at the first sign of trouble. But it does require openness to the prospect that new data, new theories, or new concepts will make it reasonable to reject the propositions we currently accept.
